The Gilded Girl

Is it creepy and visually disturbing? Yes.​ Is that the point? Also yes! The Gilded Girl was originally designed for a short film I had planned, but its meaning transformed overtime. Part mannequin and part thrift store junk, this piece took months to complete, surviving a relationship that didn't work out and tough times with parents. The torso of the Gilded Girl was completed in a few weeks, but after realizing that finding a cheap mannequin wasn't as easy as I thought, I broke down and bought one from the internet. This was before my stepdad David gifted me a Dewalt Sawzall, so every cut on this piece was made by my trusty Dewalt hacksaw.

This proved to be especially difficult when assembling the hips, as they were reused from an old exercise bike and made of metal. After months of toiling and accidentally knicking myself with the saw blade, I finally completed the sculpture. By this time, I settled on the message of representing those who cater to the whim of every fad and trend, rather than making their own decisions. They hurt themselves when it's cool, follow the crowd to the grave, and as such, rot their plastic skin from the inside out with the mechanical skeleton of the person they never became.